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The public/private dichotomy, constitutive of modern liberal citizenship, is central to feminist theory and practice. In Spain, Francoism had maintained its superiority precisely by the strict separation of the spheres and especially by the construction of the woman restricted to her functions in the private domain: wife, housekeeper and mother. The feminist movement emerges precisely as a counter-current movement to this heteronormative model of femininity. Access to the public sphere and the politicization of the private sector are the strategies privileged by this movement for the emancipation of women and for their construction as citizens. This paper seeks to study three tensions for feminisms arising from the public-private dichotomy through the analysis of activists' claims and experiences. The data come from intensive fieldwork: 44 interviews and 4 focus groups with activists from several political generations and analysis of the material produced by the movement.